


Unlikely Alliance

by Justawriterwhocannotwrite



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Adults, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Decisions, Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Caring Uma (Disney), Chimeras, Crossover, Dead Bianca di Angelo, Demigods, Dysfunctional Family, Dyslexia, Hades (Percy Jackson) is a Good Parent, Hades is a Good Parent, Happy Nico, Harry Hook Flirts, Harry Hook and Uma are Possessive of Gil, Implied Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Isle of the Lost (Disney), Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place, Leader Uma (Disney), Minor Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Minor Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants), Nico Feels, Nico is a Dork, Nightmares, Original Character(s), POV Third Person, Percy is a Dork, Pirate Uma (Disney), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Descendants 2, Present Tense, Protective Harry Hook, Protective Nico, Protective Percy Jackson, Protective Uma (Disney), Shadow Travel (Percy Jackson), Stupidity, Teen Angst, Teenage Dorks, Teenagers, United States of Auradon (Disney)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:55:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24772732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justawriterwhocannotwrite/pseuds/Justawriterwhocannotwrite
Summary: The golden fleece has gone missing again, and the prophecy calls for three children of Hades, one of whom doesn't live in camp half-blood.Two teenagers show up in the isle, demanding to speak with Hades. When they get into Auradon, all Hades breaks loose
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants), Doug/Evie (Disney: Descendants), Jane/Carlos de Vil, Jay/Li Lonnie
Comments: 16
Kudos: 69





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> This story calls for mentions a heroine overdose death and the main character references their rocky upbringing by their addicted mother. Warnings will be put on the chapters that include graphic depictions of this upbringing and PTSD from this situation. There are also graphic depictions of violence and blood in some scenes. Chapter one is an example of this.

The day is rainy and cold. Autumn winds whistle as they blow.

A girl walks along a busy street, her jacket is too big, and much too thin for this weather, and she walks as if she's attempting to hide from someone.

The girl stops in front of a run-down house in what most people would call the 'ghetto' of New York.

She fumbles with the house keys for a moment, but finally unlocks the door.

The house is messy, used needles and burnt spoons everywhere.

The girl's mother rests unconscious on the couch, needle resting in her arm.

 _Damnit_ The girl thinks. _moms overdosed again._ The girl remains calm, and approaches her mother, pressing two fingers to the side of the woman's neck, but draws them back quickly.

Her mother's skin is ice cold. Now the girl panics. She presses her fingers to her mother's neck again, but she feels nothing. This hasn't happened before. Her mother was always breathing after an overdose, and all she would have to do is keep a close eye on her mother.

With no other choice, the girl ran to her room. She had to call 911, and she knew that. But she also knew that if she called for an ambulance and she was there when they arrived, she'd be taken to a foster home. And she would rather die than go to a foster home.

The girl grabs a few clothes from her closet and dresser. She wouldn't need many. She could always use spare change to wash what she took with her. Next she grabs a hairbrush, her wallet with nothing but four dollars in quarters in it, and a few snacks and bottles of water from the pantry. She shoves it all in her backpack, and then shuts and locks her bedroom door. Hopefully that would deter the police long enough for her to run. Then, she makes her way back downstairs and calls 911.

"911 what's your emergency?"

The operator on the other side of the line speaks calmly, though the man's voice didn't still the girl's racing heart.

"I'd like to report a fatal overdose of heroin at my address."

"Who's passed away?"

"My mother."

"Alright. Sweetie, can you tell me if she's really dead?" The girl scowls. She wouldn't call to report a death if her mother was warm, now would she?

"I've checked. No pulse, no heartbeat, and she's freezing."

"Alright. I'm sending police and EMS to your house. Can you give me your address and your name?" The girl tells her address to the operator, along with her name. Can this hurry along? "Good job. Can you stay on the line with me?"

Goddamnit. How was she meant to get rid of the operator without revealing her escape plan?

"I'm sorry sir, my mom's phone is about to die. The door's unlocked and she's on the couch."

"Alright. I'll let the officers know. Stay put."

"Okay. Bye." The girl hangs up and leaves her mom's phone by the couch before leaving out the back door.

Her neighbors were too nosy to leave out front. They'd surely tell police which way she'd gone.

Then, she blends in with the flow of pedestrian traffic on the busy streets, walking continuously away from the scene. Not looking back, not thinking about it. She knew this day would come. She just didn't know when. She knew one day she'd come home and her mother would be dead. She knew she'd have to run. It just all seemed too soon.

Sirens were heard in the distance The girl walks until she finds a park bench. The sun has set and the park is empty So, the girl decides to stop there for the evening.

She reaches into her bag and pulls out one of the snacks. A chocolate-flavored cereal bar, and a bottle of water. Taking a sip, she sees something moving in her peripheral vision.

Upon further investigation, it's a chihuahua. He has a pink collar and leash on him, but no owner to be seen.

"Well hey little guy."

The girl kneels down to check for tags, but finds none. Odd. Surely a dog wearing a collar and a leash should have a tag. The chihuahua starts yapping and doesn't stop. It snarls when the girl tries to pick him up, baring all of its tiny teeth.

Fearing it's rabid, the girl stands from her bench, grabs her backpack, and begins to walk away.

But the Chihuahua isn't leaving, and even begins to follow behind the girl.

That was odd. The girl stops. Maybe it was her food? Stray dogs are always after food. But this dog isn't a stray. And it's chocolate cereal bar.

She ponders the risks, kill a puppy that could belong to a sweet child, or risk getting bitten over a cereal bar?

In the end, the girl drops the cereal bar. She takes off at a dead run, aiming for the woods nearby.

But the food doesn't seem to satisfy the animal, and it races after her, barking all the way.

The speed this dog seems to move is impossibly fast.

It quickly catches up to the girl, and she stumbles and falls.

The dog isn't a dog anymore, but a beat with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail.

It's hideous, and hungry.

The girl has nowhere else to turn, and fumbles her backpack off her shoulders.

She tosses it at the creature, trying to divert its attention.

She scrambles to her feet, darting between trees to confuse the creature.

It didn't work, and instead angers the creature.

The girl sees something in the distance, and she almost leaps in joy. A camp! What looks to be a summer camp comes into the distance.

The girl doesn't register that it's autumn. No summer camps are open in autumn. The only thing that registers in her brain is that she can see people. "Help!" She calls, waving her arms above her head. "Help!"

She doesn't make it much farther, and the creature pins her down.

Its claws dig into her flesh and she lets out a shrill scream.

She feels blood seeping from her cuts, hears the beasts growls, and her vision fades. She thinks _This is it._ as everything fades to black.


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girl wakes up in an unfamiliar place, where magical drinks heal even the worst of wounds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No major warnings, just a mention of the abuse of pills.

"Do you think she'll be okay?"

A voice whispers as the girl comes to.

"She'll be fine. She's not bleeding anymore and none of her bones are broken."

Her eyes flutter open, and the first thing she notices is how much pain she's in.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty. How do you feel?"

There were two others in the room, one was a girl with blonde hair and grey eyes, the other was a boy with black hair and brown eyes.

"Is it possible for blinking to hurt?" The boy chuckles.

"It's that bad huh?

Well, if you'll let Annabeth here help you sit up, we can get you hooked up with something that'll make you feel better."

The girl's mind drifts to growing up, how her mom started with pills. How her mother would say the medications "made her feel better." It made her sick just thinking about it.

"You're looking a little green hun, you alright?"

The girl gets pulled out of her trance by this Annabeth girl.

"I'm fine."

"Alright. Well, this is gonna hurt, but we'll get you all fixed up as soon as we get you sitting upright."

The girl braces herself through the pain, and pulles herself upright into a sitting position.

"Oh. Okay. Well. Drink this. Just a little bit."

Annabeth handed over a cup of what looked like apple juice, but it had ice in it.

The girl takes the cup from Annabeth and took a small sip.

Huh?

That was odd. It looked like apple juice, but tasted like chocolate milk.

But it was something to drink, and Annabeth has to grab the cup and pull it away from the girl.

"That's good. Here. You can drink as much water as you want, but that's enough nectar for today."

Annabeth hands her a cup of ice water in exchange for the cup of whatever the apple juice looking drink is.

Nectar?

"What's nectar?" She asks, feeling the pain fade away. She hopes nectar isn't slang for some sort of alcoholic beverage.

"Nectar? It's the drink of the gods, of course." The boy exclaims happily.

"She doesn't know what that means Leo." Annabeth turns to the girl.

"It's a healing drink. Don't you feel better?" The girl feels _much_ better. She's entirely pain-free.

"Yeah. I feel better. Thanks."

"No problem. Hey, what's your name?"

Oh. The girl had no idea they didn't know her name.

"Amelia. My name's Amelia."

"Well Amelia." Annabeth smiles. "Why don't Leo and I show you the camp?"

This was gonna be fun.


	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the last chapter in present tense. This started as a writing exercise and then I realized I would have ti stick with present tense, but it fritrates me and prolongs the writing process, so the rest of the story will be in past tense.

Amelia is going to have a hard time getting used to her new life. 

For one, the guy who runs this camp is a god, the activities director is a centaur, and each and every one of the kids here are related to gods. 

Annabeth's mom is Athena, the goddess of strategic war, and Leo's dad is Hephaestus, the god of fire. 

Amelia has no idea who her father was, but she did know that she was going to be driven insane from the Hermes cabin.

See, the Hermes cabin in where all unclaimed demigods go until they're claimed by their godly parent. 

But gods, the place is so loud. 

The kids have pillow fights, they run around singing the latest top song, and they don't stop doing it. 

Finally, a horn sounds and all of the kids pause their activities to beat one another to the door of the cabin. 

Amelia waits somewhat impatiently until they all finally get out of the cabin, and then she leaves for the dining pavilion. 

This pavilion isn't anything odd, except for one tiny detail. 

It doesn't have a roof. 

That's pretty odd. What kept the campers dry in the event of a rainstorm? 

Amelia also, unfortunately, has to sit with the Hermes kids for meals. 

And the table is so full that Amelia, who has the misfortune of getting a seat on the end of the table, finds that the kids she sits with like to move *so* much that they nearly push Amelia off of the end of the bench every few minutes. 

And this camp has a tradition. 

Every meal, the children scrape off the best portion of their meal into a large campfire in the middle of the pavilion as an offering to the gods. 

Most of the kids were offering their food to their godly parent, but the ones that didn't have a godly parent yet were just offering to be kind. 

Amelia did the same before she ate. She remembers something Annabeth told her about it being a requirement.

Amelia just wants this to be over now, though. 

Oh yeah. And camp half-blood has cups that fill with whatever you want to drink. 

Naturally, Amelia chooses chocolate milk. 

As she drinks, she wonders if anybody has ever requested an alcoholic drink with their meals. She didn't think it unlikely. 

As she eats, she starts to wonder about the police. Annabeth said mortals see a boring farm and can't get into camp half-blood, so they can't find her here. 

But if she were to leave, she couldn't run around in the open. Her face is probably plastered everywhere by now. 

Everyone finished eating and then all eyes are on Dionysus, awaiting some sort of instruction. 

The god nods and all of the kids race to the fire in the middle of the pavilion. 

Amelia gets an okay spot and tries her best to learn the songs they sing. It's not very good but Amelia knows she'll learn eventually. 

Amelia's night is anything but restful, full of odd dreams and the occasional nightmare. 

The next morning, her first activity is training with Chiron. 

This proves to be difficult, as none of the weapons from the armory seem to fit for Amelia. 

Chiron pulls something from a shirt pocket. 

"There's one more we can try." He tosses whatever it is to Amelia, who catches it. 

It's a silver ring with a black stone in the middle. 

Amelia wasn't a rock person, but she knew what this stone was, for some odd reason. 

Onyx. 

"What's this have to do with weapons?"

She slipped the timg onto her right ring finger. 

A perfect fit. 

"Press down on the stone. You'll see."

Amelia pressed the stone down, and the ring turned into a sword in her hand. 

A sword blacker than anything Amelia has ever experienced. It glows with an eerie purple light. 

But it feels perfect in Amelia's hands. 

"As I suspected." Chiron says simply. 

Amelia goes to ask what he means, but there is a light above Amelia's head and she thinks back to what Annabeth said about claiming. 

_When a god claims you, usually their symbol shows up above your head. Then you can be moved to that god's cabin._

  
The symbol in question is a three headed dog, which gives it away instantly. 

Amelia's father is Hades. 


	4. Chapter 4

So as it turns out, Amelia had one, _one_ sibling. 

A boy named Nico di Angelo.

Amelia met him at the campfire, because he sat with his boyfriend at the Apollo table, despite the rules saying otherwise. 

Amelia actually sat next to his boyfriend at the campfire. 

"You're the new girl. Amelia, right?" 

"Yeah." Amelia grinned. "That's me." 

"I'm Will." He smiled and then turned to the boy next to him, who was sitting just outside of the firelight. 

"Are you going to say hello to your sister or are you going to be a hermit all night?" 

Amelia heard a small sigh and Nico emerged from the shadows. 

He had messy black hair and dark eyes, with a black skull shirt instead of a cmap shirt, and an aviator jacket. He looked sleep deprived, and Amelia couldn't blame him. Amelia heard from a few kids in the Hermes cabin that weird, almost prophetic dreams and very vivid nightmares were common among demigods. Amelia hadn't slept well the past few nights herself. She'd beeen having a recurring dream about a castle on an island surrounded by water, and an unknown voice urging her to go there. And then it would cit to the golden fleece protecting camp, and the same voice would tell her to find the fleece, even though it wasn't missing. So, she understood the sleep deprivation. 

"Hey." 

Amelia smiled. "Hi Nico. It's nice to meet you." 

"Yeah. You too." 

She didn't talk to him the rest of the night, which Amelia wasn't too bothered by. She wasn't exactly a social butterfly herself. And she was a stranger to him, so it would take a little bit of them rooming together before he'd open up. 

That night, the dream she'd been having wasn't there, instead, it was the branch where the fleece was, empty, and the voice from before was louder. 

_find it. Find it. FIND IT_

Then she saw a memory she would rather forget. 

Her mother calling for her as she got lost in a spooky corn maze. 

None of the people hired to scare her were doing so, probably because she was a child all alone. 

But then something came out of the maze. 

This thing had wings and could fly. It wasn't a haunted house, so there was no way it was an actor harnessed to anything. 

And this thing was cracking a whip in Amelia's direction. 

But something about this memory was off. 

It was who she thought was her mother calling for her at first. But she remembered that her mother wasn't calling for her. 

It was someone else. A woman, but not her mother.

Amelia watched as a seven year old version of herself ran off of the corn maze path from the creature, trying to stay just outside of their whip's range. 

Then she saw herself coming out of the maze through the way she came, running into her mother's arms and sobbing. 

But that voice was still calling her name, and it wss getting louder and louder. 

Then, as the voice reached its top volume, the voice telling her to find the fleece was back, suddenly shouting "FIND IT!" 

"Amelia." This voice wasn't in her dream, but rather far away. 

"Amelia." It was closer this time, urgent. 

"Amelia!" 

Amelia's eyes shot open and she saw Nico standing over her. 

"Something's happened. Chiron wants us at the amphitheater." 

Amelia sat up and then rose to her feet. She went out barefoot because she didn't have any sandals and she didn't want to slip on her sneakers. 

She followed Nico to the amphitheater. The tensions were high and everyone was whisperinv therories. Amelia sat beside Annabeth and a boy with dark hair. 

"What's going on?" Amelia whispered to Annabeth, who nodded toward Thalia's tree in the distance, where the golden fleece and a dragon once were, but neither the playful Peleus nor the golden fleece were at the tree. 

Oh no. 

"Annabeth." Amelia's voice came out choked. "I had a dream-" 

"Is everybody accounted for?" Chiron's voice cut Amelia off and she sighed. This would have to wait. But could it? 

"Yeah. Everyone's here." Will nodded for his cabin, and the other cabins followed. 

For Amelia and Nico, it was easy to tell if someone was missing from their cabin, and of couse, they were both accounted for. 

"Good. Now. I'm sure most of you know what's going on. But for those of you who don't, let me explain." 

Amelia rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Sure, she'd probably have been awake by now, drenched in a cold sweat and shaking from a nightmare, but she was still sleepy. 

"Dionysus noticed someone hanging around the tree. When he went out to investigate, the person was gone, along with Pelus and the fleece." 

This spurred whispers among the campers. 

"And, for you new campers who may not be aware, the fleece stays on the tree to protect the camp and keep monsters out." 

Amelia's stomach twisted. So monsters could get in now? She had no fighting experience. She'd die instantly. 

"I have alerted our oracle of the situation, and she should be here by tomorrow woth some answers. Until then, we will be doing cabin checks. We can't rule out a camper." 

This turned into a full blown argument about who would be wanted to steal the golden fleece. 

"It has to be that Amelia girl." An Ares kid shouted." 

Annabeth stood up and crossed her arms. "Amelia hasn't done anything!" 

"The fleece didn't go missing until she showed up. It only makes sense." 

"Oh shut your trap, Sherman! Amelia didn't steal the fleece. She probably didn't even know what it did until now." 

Amelia just wanted to curl into a ball and disappear. 

As Annabeth argued for Amelia, more Ares kids started to accuse Amelia of stealing the fleece. 

She hadn't done anything wrong. 

"That's enough!" A girl's voice silenced the kid. 

Amelia looked up. 

She was an Ares kid, with blonde hair and a scar across her face. "We have absolutely no reason to suspect Amelia for anything. We have no evidence to prove she did anything. Leave the poor thing alone." 

All of the Ares kids mumbled and groaned but they all sat down. 

"That's Clarisse. She's the counselor of the Ares cabin. She used to be a bully, but she's gotten a lot better recently." Annabeth explained as Amelia wiped away tears she didn't even know were falling. 

She didn't take the fleece. She didn't leave her bed all night, but she felt bad. She felt like if she didn't go to camp, the fleece would still be here. She thought that if maybe she had died to that Chimera, the fleece wouldn't have been stolen.

"Hey kid. You alright?" 

Amelia looked up. 

Clarisse had knelt beside her, face etched with worry. 

"If I didn't come here-I'm a bad omen. Bad things-bad things only happen when-" She sobbed. 

"Try to take deep breaths for me now. Shh. It's okay." 

Amelia wiped at her eyes and mustered up the words to speak clearer. 

"If I hadn't come here, the fleece wouldn't be gone. I'm a bad omen. Bad things happen when I go places." 

Clarisse sighed. 

"Kid, we're all bad omens. That's just what being a demigod comes with. Even if you weren't here, that fleece would be gone. 

"No. No you don't get it. I've-my dreams-" 

"They're scary. I know. They're supposed to be." 

"That's not-" Amelia felt so frustrated. Nobody would let her say anything about what her dreams were about. Nobody listened. As usual. "Nevermind. I just need more sleep." 

"You're gonna be okay, kid. Our oracle will come and we'll get this figured out. 

"What's an oracle?" Amelia was distracted for a moment by the word. That was the second time she'd hear dit and she didn't know where it came from. 

"It's complicated. For us, it's a girl named Rachel who spits prophecies every now and again." 

"And these prophecies help?" 

Clarisse laughed. "Not really. They're supposed to but they're very vague and not even Chiron knows what they mean sometimes. But once you decode it, it helps." 

That had Amelia thinking. Maybe Rachel would be able to listen to her. 

Everyone was given sleeping bags and pillows, and everyone slept in the amphitheater so Chiron and Mister D could keep an eye on all of the campers. 

Amelia couldn't sleep, though. She just tossed and turned. She needed to tell someone about this dream of hers before something bad happened. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for people analyzing her dream: she's just re-living the parts of her childhood that were out of the ordinary as she's dreaming, and they will get progressively darker and darker, so warnings will apply. But the part about the fleece is what's important. The other part where she was chased by a fury in a cornfield was just a flashback to where exactly her life started to go wrong


	5. Five

Amelia did end up falling asleep, but it wasn't resful, and she didn't even dream again. 

She ate her breakfast, though not a lot of it. She didn't feel like food. She worried if she ate too much she would get sick. Thst knotted feeling in her stomach didn't leave, and she still worried about the dreams she'd been having. 

So she just moved on with her day. 

Rachel the oracle came earlier that same morning, and while Amelia was having her Greek lessons with Annabeth, Chiron came up to her and Annabeth, with Nico beside him. 

"Amelia, would you follow me? It's urgent." 

Amelia nodded and stood up. This Rachel girl must've told him it was her fault. She was going to get kicked out of camp. 

Her hands trembled and she tried not to make it obvious. 

The oracle resided in a cave of all places? I mean, yeah she gave prophecies but the girl couldn't have somewhere warmer? 

Rachel was a lanky teen with wild red curls. She was wearing a blue puffy jacket and jeans, and Amelia wished she'd brought her coat. 

"You must be Amelia. I'm sure you're probably freaking out. This sort of thing doesn't happen often. The fleece being stolen, I mean." 

Amelia nodded. "Just a bit." 

Rachel gestured to the couch in the cave. "Sit." 

If Nico was worried, Amelia couldn't tell. He was so calm. He just sat beside Amelia and stared at his shoes. 

Rachel sat on a three-legged stool by the coffee table. "I had a prophecy earlier today with Chiron." 

"And?" Nico muttered. 

Rachel didn't seem fazed by his response and instead recited this prophecy. 

_Two progeny of the unseen one shall venture forth to find the third leading a faraway land._

_And with their powers together they will band._

_To find what's been stolen before the dawn of the month's end._

_Betrayal follows the discovery of the lost._

_What's been thieved will be recovered but at a cost._

Amelia's brain hurt just trying to decode the Oracle's words.

"Progeny is just a fancy word for offspring or children." Rachel said. 

"And Hades is the Unseen One." Nico added. 

"So we're two children of Hades." 

"And we need to find the fleece." 

Amelia sighed. "And we need to find a third demigod whose the ruler of their own kingdom?" 

Nico shook his head. "It doesn't say the other is a demigod." 

If they werent a demigod what were they? 

Amelia sighed. "It doesn't even say where we need to go to find this person." 

Rachel nodded. "Dreams can often help with these kinds of things. Have either if you had any?" 

Amelia nodded. "I was having dreams about the fleece before it even went missing. There was a voice telling me to find it over and over again. Tonight it was a lot louder. But that was before we learned it was stolen. I didn't have any after that though." 

Rachel nodded. "I think the best course of action is to prepare for the quest today, and hopefully your dreams guide you." 

"It would help if we knew where we were going." Nico muttered. And It sounds far away, meaning water. And we can't exactly fly either." 

"What? Why not?" Amelia didn't know they couldn't take boats. 

"Children of Hades aren't really supposed to exist, the big three gods made an oath after world war two to never have demigod children. Poseidon and Zeus would see you guys as tresspassers and would either strike you out of the sky or capsize your boat and you'd drown." Rachel explained. 

"That's nice to know. How else are we supposed to get to this place?" It didn't sound like they could leave North America. 

"Well." Chiron said. "The gods have been known to help demigods, though they can't take you all the way there." 

The gods help demigods? That was interesting. Amelia figured it didn't happen very often and that they would probably owe the gods something in return. 

"I can shadow travel." Nico said, twiddling his thumbs.

"Shadow what?" 

"I wouldn't reccomend shadow travelling the entire distance, Nico. You don't want to overdo it." 

"Can someone tell me what he's talking about!?" Amelia asked. She'd never heard of shadow travelling. Was she able to do it too?

"Some children of Hades can utilize shadows as a transportation method. But it's hard to master and takes lots of energy. Even if you can do it, we would need to work on it with you before you could try it." 

"Oh." Amelia felt useless suddenly. Nico could shadow travel, which would get them at least a bit farther, but she can't even use her sword properly yet. 

"Today, go back to your normal schedule, and this evening you two will pack for your quest. You'll leave tomorrow." Chiron instructed. 

Amelia nodded. "Will everybody be alright here?" Amelia knew the camp was in danger, and she still thought it was her fault. 

"This isn't the first time the camp's defenses have been compromised. We'll be alright while you're gone." 

Amelia wanted to ask about the first time they had to protect camp, but decided against it. 

"You two run off now. Good luck." Rachel smiled. 

"Thanks Rachel." Amelia stood up and followed Nico out of the cave. 

It was still their first activity, so she returned to Annabeth, who was flipping through her Greek book. 

"Hey. How was the meetup with the Oracle?" 

Amelia sighed. 

"We have to find a third child of Hades who is somehow a ruler of a kingdom that we have to have the gods help us to because we can't go on a boat or take a plane!" Amelia groaned. 

"Who's 'we?' You and Nico?" 

"Yeah. We have to find a sibling of ours to get the golden fleece back. Oh, yeah, and we have an end of the month deadline and someone's going to be betrayed and we'll get the fleece back but at some sort of cost." 

Annabeth grimaced. "Yikes. The success at a cost prophecy huh? I'm sure you'll do great though." 

"Hardly. I can barely weild my sword and Nick knows how to shadow travel! What am I good for?" 

Annabeth chuckled. "That's what you're worried about? Amelia. You're not worthless because you can't do these things. You've been here, what, three days? We just haven't worked with you long enough. You're a powerful demigod, there's no doubt about that. Don't beat yourself up over this. Okay? Even the Ares cabin kids had to be trained to use their weapons." 

Amelia nodded, but she didn't believe her. She'd just slow Nico down, and she'd be useless in battles.

She looked out at the Thalia tree, where Ares kids were messing around waiting for monsters. 

"Annabeth." 

"Yeah?" Annabeth looked away from her book again. 

"Chiron said this wasn't the firdt time the camp's protection was compromised." 

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah. See, it's a long story, but that tree, we call it Thalia's tree because a firend of mine, Thalia, who's in the hunters of Artemis now, died, and her father, Zeus, turned her into a pine tree, and that protected camp. A boy posioned the tree a few years ago and me and my boyfriend Percy had to help Clarisse get the golden fleece to heal the tree. We were fighting monsters then too. When we got the fleece, Thalia was revived and now it's just a tree that protects camp. But without the fleece it doesn't do anything." 

"So the fleece has healing properties?" 

"Yeah. I forgot to mention that." 

Amelia was more worried about how you can posion an entire tree than anything, and she just laid in the grass until her next activity. 

At training she let Annabeth pin her down because she was so distracted.

At arts and crafts she accidentally dipped the ends of her hair in paint. 

And at lunch she could hardly eat. 

The entire day was off for Amelia. 

That evening, Chiron gave her and Nico backpacks to pack. 

They packed ambrosia and bottles of nectar and drachmas for godly purchases. 

Amelia also packed feminine products, a hairbrush, some hairties, some granola bars and some mortal money. 

Nico packed Ambrosia, nectar, drachmas, mortal money, and a med kit that Will insisted he bring with him. 

They would have breakfast the next morning and leave. 

At the campfire, Will approached Amelia, who was twirling her ring on her finger. 

"Hey." 

Amelia gave him a small wave. 

"I wanted to ask you something. Is that alright?" 

Amelia nodded. "Sure. What is it?" 

"So usually when demigods go on quests, their cabin mates make them burial shrouds. Just in case, of course." 

"Wait." Amelia looked up. "Enough demigods have died for this to become a tradition?" 

Will nodded. "Yeah. It's dark, I know. Anyway, for the demigods who don't have anyone to make a shroud for them, another cabin can volunteer to make the shroud." 

"And you want the Apollo cabin to make mine and Nico's?" 

"Yep. Nico's fine with it, but I wanted to check in to make sire you were alright with it." 

"Yeah. I'm fine with it. Better than letting the Ares cabin do it." She shrugged. She wondered what would happen if someone survived, would they just discard the shroud? 

"Awesome! And hopefully you'll get to burn them when you get back." 

Ah, so that's what they did with them. 

There were monsters later that evening, and even though Amelia and Nico offered to help, the other campers shooed them to their cabin, telling them they needed to get plenty of sleep. 

Amelia tossed and turned for what delt like hours, but finally she fell asleep. 

She didn't know what was going to be in store, but she hoped that it would all work out in the end. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amelia and Nico need some help from the gods. Who do yoh think they'll meet first?


	6. Six

_A person. Driving a car. Upon further look, it seems to be a man, and he's driving a car in the sky._

_He's talking on the phone, and his voice is muffled for a moment before it becomes clear._

_"I told you Hermes, I'm going to California to help them. Once they're safe somewhere else, I'll let you know where and you can help-"_

_The man gets cut off when something overtakes the dream. It's what Amelia recognizes as an airplane ticket._

_Nothing is readable except for the destination._

_Florence, Italy._

Amelia wakes with the sun, and she lays in bed pondering the dream. Someone, some god wpuld help them in California, and then he'd take them to Italy, where Hermes would help them. At least, that's what Amelia read it as. 

It isn't until breakfast that she gets the chance to tell Nico about the dream. 

"That's interesting." He mutters. "Guess we're going west." 

"Hey, you two." Annabeth walked up to their table, holding two hoodies in her hands. "Take these in case something happens to your jackets. Oh, and Amelia, Piper wants you to stop by the Aphrodite cabin to change up your look a bit, throw off the cops." 

Amelia forgot about that. Her life had been so chaotic the past few days that she forgot she was considered a missing person. 

"Thanks Annabeth." She smiled, taking the hoodie. 

She headed to the Aphrodite cabin right after breakfast, so as to not waste time. 

She knocked on the Aphrodite cabin door, and, just her luck, Drew Tanaka answered the door. 

"Yes?" 

Piper was behind her in a second. 

"Move it Drew." She shoved Drew to the side and pulled Amelia inside. 

The inside of the Aphrodite cabin currently looked like a hair salon. 

"Sit right here." Piper pulled her into one of the chairs and set to work on her hair. 

Amelia walked out of the Aphrodite cabin with reddish brown hair chopped into a shoulder-length bob, and ahe was given bangs too, along with a pair of fake glasses to wear. 

She looked like an absolute child. 

But she couldn't recognize herself, which was a good thing. 

"Ready?" Nico didn't seem fazed by her makeover, and instead paced the Aphrodite cabin impatiently. 

"Yeah. Let's go." 

Amelia double checked that she had everything and headed toward the tree. This was going to be a long journey 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short-ish chapter, but just a reminder: this isn't a Mal-centric story. For those of you here for Mal and Mal only, you're not getting that. If that's what you're after, this fic isn't for you


	7. Seven

Amelia and Nico made their way through New York, equipped with a United States map to mark their place and plan a way west. 

"We should go through Pennsylvania next and then Ohio." Amelia pointed to the places on the map as they sat in a bus. "We'll stop on the way, obviously. But I don't know if we'll have enough money to make it to California." 

Nico nodded. "I could shadow travel us across a few states, but I'd pass out and we'd have to stop until I get my energy up."

"That should work, and then we can make it to California with money to spare." Amelia made a line through the map from New York to California. "How far can you take us?" She asked him. 

"Here." He pointed to Colorado. "We can go here." 

That was closer to California than Amelia had anticipated. 

"Great. Then we can take a bus or a train the rest of the way there." 

Amelia folded up the map and sighed. "But I don't know where we're going to find our ride beyond that." 

Amelia was glad they were in an empty car, because they would've been getting odd looks. But they'd chose an empty car on purpose. 

"You said he was driving a car in the sky?" Nico asked, tapping his fingers on his knee. 

"Yeah. Why?" 

"Was he blond?" 

Amelia thought back to her dream. He was indeed blond.

"Yeah. Is that important?" 

"Not unless you have any objections about Apollo driving us anywhere." 

Apollo. Will's dad. 

"Do you?" 

Nico shook his head. "He's alright. A little annoying but alright." 

Amelia nodded a fidgeted with the paper. She hoped Apollo would find them easily once they got to California. 

She took a deep breath and tried not to worry about it as the subway pulled up to a station. 

Next stop, Colorado. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little bit of filler! Its very very short, yes, but it's preparing for the next few chapters!


End file.
